Sunday, October 25, 2009

Advocacy Guru: Stephanie Vance

At the Iowa Tourism Conference I got the opportunity to listen to two presentations by Stephanie Vance. I heard her through ears that were listening for things I could use for the Chamber, Tourism and for my business. You can find her at http://www.advocacyguru.com/ I recommend you go there at sign up for her newsletter, watch a clip of Stephanie in action and read some of her blog.

Did you know:

1,320 bills were introduced in Iowa last year

20% passed

there are 150 legislators, each represents 30,000 people

You can get an average of 7.5 minutes interview with your legislator

Advocacy is the pursuit of influencing incomes. You've got to ask for what you want.

"The legislative process is designed to be this mish mosh of craziness", said Ms. Vance. Read the Federalist Papers - they intended for government to be crazy.

What are some Influence Factors for Legislators?

Personal relationships (friends, family, staff)

Jobs and Issues in their Districts (development stories)

Media (ask your local paper if you can do a 1/2 column article on tourism every week)

Money

The Message - What you say

Their own principles and passions

Their Constituents

The Four Keys To Success

What do you want? Make the ask!

Do you want funding initiatives, policy change, support for a bill?

Do you want a relationship?

Do you want them to write a newsletter article? Make a Statement? A 5 minute speech? A site Visit? A website statement? Often, if you write out the article or statement you want, present it and ask for their approval - you just might get it!

Know Your Audience

Why are you relevant? Do you live or work or serve in their district?

What are they interested in?

What positions do they hold?

What are their politics?

How Should You ask? SPIT Rule

Specific, Personal, Informative, Trustworthy

The message formula is: Hi. My name is __________ from _______. I here to talk about ________. Knowing your interest is _________________, we think you'll be interested in this. It's important to the people in your area where I live/work/serve because __________.

There's a triage that occurs in the legislators office. The front desk person (usually an intern, a very young intern) goes through the letters and separates them between letters from their district and those that are not. Those that are not, get lost.

Then the letters get separated into more piles. Form letters. Crazy letters (these go to the FBI). Personal letters from constituents. And the Nirvana Stack - those who have written before.

Here's some tips using the four keys: What, Who, How and Follow Up

Ask more than once.

Connect with other advocates.

Send press releases to legislators office - fax it or email it to press secretary on staff.